Richard Ader - How to Rally: Wisdom from a Life Spent Beating the Odds

How to Rally

Wisdom from a Life Spent Beating the Odds

Richard Ader

Foreword by Patrick McEnroe

T o Pam. I met you in May, we were engaged in September, and married in January. More than 56 years later, every day is better than the one before. You have supported me through the events in this book as my doctor, my nurse, my trainer, and, of course, my love. You have been my everything, and I love you very much.

F irst, of course, thank you to my wife, Pam. I dedicated this book to you and feel so lucky to wake up next to you every morning. To my children and grandchildren, your support throughout my crises and my recovery has bolstered my spirits and kept me going. I look forward to every moment spent with each of you.

To my sister, Sylvia, thank you for a lifetime of friendship. To my mother, my hero, I wish youd had a chance to read this.

To Ronny, what can I say about a best friend that hasnt been said before? You know what you mean to me.

To my physicians, Dr. Evelyn Horn, Dr. Erica Jones, and Dr. George Thomas, you saved my life, and I am deeply indebted. To my nurses, Mike, Pete, Chris, Eric, and Joe, your hard work with me on the healing process is something I am truly thankful for. To my trainers, Stacy, Larry, and Eric, you have helped me build up my body and build back my strength. The skills and dedication of all of you fill me with gratitude.

To David Ledy, David Silvers, Jack Genende, and David Grazioli, thank you for all that you do to keep the business running, and for all your help and support. Thank you to Barbara Gunzberg, who protects me and watches out for me always.

To Jeremy Blachman, your help and assistance on this project has been invaluable. Without you, this book would be a paragraph long.

To Patrick McEnroe, thank you for the foreword, and for your friendship and partnership over the years. To Billie Jean King, thank you for letting me share our story, and to Rusty Kanokogi, I think of you and miss your presence constantly.

Finally, to Jonathan Merkh and the entire team at Forefront Books, thank you for bringing my words to life and making this book a reality.

I was lucky enough to have an incredible father, and Im lucky enough to still have two great older brothers. Throughout my life, I have been lucky to have had many mentors as well, both in tennis and in life.

But I can honestly say that, for me, the only person who has encompassed all of those qualities in one is Richard Ader.

I have known Richard for almost twenty-five years. We met through tennis, as Ive met many of my friends throughout my fifty-two years involved in the game (Im now fifty-five years young).

Richard has always been a person I could talk to about my life, my family, and my career. We worked as partners in a business venture called World Team Tennis, the co-ed tennis league started by the legendary Billie Jean King over forty years ago. We did the work not because we could make a lot of money (we could have lost some), but because we loved the game.

Working together throughout the World Team Tennis years, Richard taught me so much about business, and, even more, about how to treat people in business and in life.

I knew that Richard was very successful in his real estate business, but he was always more interested in discussing my life, my story, and my goals. We would meet often at his favorite Midtown Manhattan restaurant, down the street from his office. He would always be early, sitting at his customary table, waiting for his tennis buddy.

I looked forward to those lunches because I knew I could always get the straight story from Richard. His pearls of wisdom stayed with me as I navigated my way through my post-tennis-playing career.

Richard became one of my most trusted confidants. I have come to see him as a father figure, an older brother figure, a mentor figure, and, honestly, over the years, as a true, true friend.

Reading Richards story is just incredible. I knew some of it: his basketball playing days; his upbringing; his awesome wife, Pam; his family (hes the proudest father and grandfather there is); and his tremendously successful real estate business. But I didnt know it all.

I have been lucky enough to meet many of Richards friends and family through the years at his U.S. Open suite, where Richard holds court in his chair, taking in the tennis all day and night.

Recently, I was able to hit tennis balls with Richard again. To see his dedication to get back on the court after all he has been through is an absolute inspiration.

Thank you, Richard, for being you. And I love your new two-handed backhand. We should have switched to it years ago.

I was looking straight at death. But I refused to let it take me.

It was March 2019, and I was in the recovery room after an ablation procedure on my heart. My doctor told me that it was a success. But the next thing I remember, it was two days later, and I woke up thinking I was dead. Im told that my heart stopped and all my organs began failing. I had been put into a medically induced coma. My family was told to prepare for my demise. They thought it was the end. My doctors thought it was the end. Everyone thought it was the end.

But it wasnt the end.

In many ways, it turned out to be just the beginning. After almost two months in the hospital, after losing more than twenty pounds and virtually all of my muscle mass, I was unable to stand on my own. In fact, I was unable to do much of anything. My doctors told me I might never walk again, and certainly that Id never again play tennis, the sport Id loved for decades.

To me, there had to be a path forward. There always is. Finding that path, no matter the odds, is what has driven me my entire life. Professionally, I became a pioneer in the field of net lease real estate, building a career of more than fifty years finding ever-greater ways to benefit my clients, even as laws and regulations changed. In that work, I have needed a careful, reasoned understanding of risk and reward. Ive had to set bold-but-realistic goals, take decisive action, and invest time and energy with an eye toward the future. The skills that have served me well in real estate are remarkably similar to those that have been needed for a successful recovery. Thats how this book emerged. Thats how I believe my story can help you, no matter where you are in your recovery, and what youre hoping to achieve.

It was during a tennis match with a friend that the events unfolded that ultimately led to this book. I was playing tennis on Randalls Island in New York. I remember walking to one side of the court and then falling to the ground, landing smack on my face. Luckily, it was right next to a training location for the New York City Fire Department, and there were six EMTs eating breakfast just a few hundred feet away. They revived me and insisted that I go to the hospital. But this wasnt a sports injury. I fell because my heart was out of rhythm, a condition known as atrial fibrillation, and my heart was out of rhythm because it was beginning to fail.